The Allure of Albany

Albany residences have been one of London's most exclusive addresses since 1803. As modern designers including Ashley Hicks adopt it as home, Rose Dahlsen takes an sneak peek inside.

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'The story of Albany is largely the story of the people who have lived there' wrote Sheila Birkenhead in Peace in Piccadilly in 1958. Designed by William Chambers for Viscount Melbourne in the 1770s, the stately Georgian pile originally took form as a mansion, Melbourne House. Some 30 years later, a young developer named Alexander Copland purchased the property. He recognised a growing need for small scale residences, and so enlisted the expertise of architect Henry Holland to convert the main house into 69 palatial bachelor apartments, known as 'sets'. An additional two parallel buildings were added to the old garden to provide more chambers. By 1803, the residence had been transformed. The 'Rules and Regulations' (many of which are still observed today) stipulated that the premises 'shall be called Albany'.

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In his 1848 novel The Bachelor of the Albany, Marmion Wilard describes life in the sought-after setting as 'the haunt of bachelors, or of married men who try to lead bachelors' lives - the dread of suspicious wives, the retreat of superannuated fops, the hospital for incurable oddities, a cluster of solitudes for social hermits, the home of homeless gentlemen... the place for the fashionable thrifty, the luxurious lonely, and the modish morose, the votaries of melancholy, and lovers of mutton-chops'.

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In the August 2014 issue of House & Garden, Jojo Grima, widow of the jeweller Andrew Grima, and her husband William Grant allow us to step inside their set, which has been decorated by designer Chester Jones. We are offered a rare peek inside the cloistered world of one of London's most exclusive addresses, where age-old rules still apply. 'No pets, no children, no whistling, no noise and absolutely no publicity' reveals current Albany resident and antiques dealer, Christopher Gibbs. The pertinence of these policies allow Albany to retain an exclusive existence; a hushed hideaway and hidden world - 'part club, part cloister'. Those wishing to take up residency must first be assessed by a group of trustees and a secretary.

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Situated next to Burlington House in the throng of Piccadilly, Albany has been home to a roster of distinguished residents over the past 200 years. In 1814, Lord Byron described his 'set' in his journal as being 'spacious', with room for his 'books and sabres'. There was room too for his macaw parrot, as well as a long table, constantly covered with books, that stood before the fireplace. David Hicks, Lord Snowdon, Aldous Huxley, Kenneth Clark, Sir Terence Rattigan and Terence Stamp have all resided there over the years. Women were not permitted on the premises until the 1880s; Baroness Pauline de Rothschild resided there less than a century later. William Gladstone who, on several occasions, entertained the poet William Wordsworth in his rooms also occupied a chamber for a period, as did Sir Edward Heath before becoming prime minister.

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Birkenhead wrote of the sequestered setting, 'Albany remains, a reminder of eighteenth-century elegance, a hermitage; quiet as a lagoon, secluded from the roar of Piccadilly'. And that it does.